Firefish

P

pc2918

New member
I've been looking at adding a school of firefish to my 50g reef setup. I like both kinds (red and purple). Has anyone ever mixed the two or are they like maroon clowns and dont mix.
 
Firefish don't mix well at all. If you get two one will eventually kill the other through intimidation. If they are a mated pair it would work but otherwise two will become one.
 
really? I've found that my fire fish always do fine in pairs, and I never did anything special about choosing them at the store. In fact one of my purple pair recently died (I haven't seen it in a month, so I assume it died), and without it's buddy the other one has stopped coming out of its burrow, which they used to share. I only see it for a few seconds every day now when I feed.'

I still don't think I'd mix species though.
 
hope it works out for you..cant remember how many i started with it was about 16 years ago, in the end i had just one and it turned out to be the jumper
 
I have 4 Purple Firefish in a 150gal. Had them in there for a couple of months or so and so far so good.

2 of them hang around together in open water most of the time but the other 2 tend to hide out at opposite sides of the tank, only coming out to feed. Never seen any aggression to each other or anything else.

Don't know if different species of FF's will work together though.
 
pc2918 said:
The guy at my LFS has a pair in right now and he told me as far as a group 5 would be better than 3
Click to expand...

Of course they did. Fish stores want to sell fish.

Firefish are intolerant of other firefish long term. They will antagonize each other until they are all dead but one. A truly mated/bonded pair can be kept together. Males and females are difficult to tell apart so the likelihood of getting a male/female pair is only 25%. Then the likelihood that they will truly bond is even lower.

These fish need to be kept one specimen per tank, regardless of what your LFS told you.
 
I love firefish but they always jump out, so to save time, when I buy one, I open the bag, and throw it on the floor.
 
reeferstace said:
Of course they did. Fish stores want to sell fish.

Firefish are intolerant of other firefish long term. They will antagonize each other until they are all dead but one. A truly mated/bonded pair can be kept together. Males and females are difficult to tell apart so the likelihood of getting a male/female pair is only 25%. Then the likelihood that they will truly bond is even lower.

These fish need to be kept one specimen per tank, regardless of what your LFS told you.
Click to expand...

+1

In general, fish do not school or shoal in aquariums. Shoaling/schooling is a defense against predation in the wild. Since most of our aquariums don't have large predators swooping through the reef eating its inhabitants, there's no reason for fish to defend against it.
 
IME, I have found firefish to pair together quite easily. They are, in general, very intolerant of others of their species outside of their pair. But, I have never seen a problem mixing different species together in the same tank. I have housed pairs of purples, reds, and helfrichs all together in a 60 cube, no problems whatsoever.
 
Paul B said:
I love firefish but they always jump out, so to save time, when I buy one, I open the bag, and throw it on the floor.
Click to expand...

Hahaha!

Things seem to go okay if you can get a M-F pair. The keyword there is IF. As far as groups go if you end up with a M-M-F grouping or a group with more than one male, there will be fighting. One poster mentioned that two of theirs hide out at separate corners of the tank except for feeding.... IME, they are being picked on when they come out and that is why they hide all the time.

I have not mixed them because my research into the subject has always suggested that they do not mix. So, I would pick my favorite one. You could always set up another tank to house the other one... hahahahahaaaa.
 
i've got 3 orange firefish in my 55 and they do well together...2 hang out in the center and one stares at them from the corner but i haven't seen any aggression at all. all fish are different but just my experience.
 
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